After the Concert
by LaLiLaLiLa
Summary: After the concert, a tune of romance begins.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1  
**(by: DragonPhoenix16)

-

The concert was long over, but the music he heard was just beginning to intensify. August Rush, also known as Evan Taylor, found himself sitting outside Mr. Jeffries office. He recalled the events of that evening of how everything had found itself.

He had turned around at the end of the piece, driven by the same urge that had taken him thus far to everyone and everything he's ever known. Then as he looked down to the front row, he saw them. The man named Louis, whom he met in the park earlier that day, and a beautiful woman standing next to him. His breath caught as his piece ended and a thunderous applause erupted from the audience he was now facing. The couple stood there proudly with a smile on their faces.

It was after the concert that Jeffries had escorted him to the woman and Louis who remained where they stood.

"Hello, August." Louis said, his warm smile splashed over his face with eyes glittering blue as he looked at the woman who stood behind him.

August turned to meet the woman's green eyes. She looked like an angel. Her hair was honey brown with highlights of blonde in wavy locks. Her skin was golden and flawless. Her smile was- radiating. And her eyes and smile were aimed at him.

"You know, I almost didn't believe you when you said you had a concert." Louis said to break the silence that had descended on them. "You were amazing, lad."

"Miss Novacek," Mr. Jeffries addressed, "Is this man the father?"

Louis's smile melted into shock and he turned to the woman, Miss Novacek. "Father? Of who? Lyla, what is he talking about?"

"I'm Mr. Jeffries, I work with child services. August Rush, here-" Mr. Jeffries started when Lyla Novacek interrupted him.

"Is our son." She finished, her eyes resting on August when she said so.

"Mom." August whispered, in awe. He knew deep down inside that it was her. However, he couldn't stop himself from asking anyways. He wanted to hear it.

Lyla nodded as tears spilled from her eyes. "Yes."

August ran forward, breaking from Mr. Jeffries, and ran into Lyla's arms. He cried as he buried his face in her dress and as she held on to him tightly, he could tell she was crying to. Soon, August felt another arm around him and heard a deep voice over him.

"We have a son?" Louis asked, his voice not revealing any disbelief although he was asking.

"Yes." Lyla cried with a smile on her face as she held August closer, "Yes."

Mr. Jeffries smiled a rare smile as he looked on at the reunited family. He then realized why he worked for child services and wished that almost every story could have an ending like that. Then, his mind brought him back to reality and all the paperwork he'd have to do to bring the family legally together.

"Um, Ms. Novacek," he started as he cleared his throat gaining the attention of the trio, who looked to him. Jeffries turned his gaze to the man, "Sir, I'm going to need all of you to come with me so we can straighten this out in a legal sense."

"Louis! Louis!" came yells from across the park.

Louis broke from his family to turn to see his brother running across the lawn towards them.

"Louis, man, where the hell 'ave you been? C'mon, we've got to-" Marshall Connelly started when he spotted Lyla and a boy with her. "Oh, nice to see you again."

"Marshall, you know Lyla." Louis said as he gestured towards her. Marshall smiled as he looked to the boy and saw something eerily familiar about him. He looked back to his brother and then to the boy and then to Lyla. The pieces fit in his head before his brother even said- "And this is our son, August."

Marshall stared incredulously at his brother, speechless. "You mean, that night on the roof- Oh, Christ-"

Lyla flushed at the mention of that while Louis awkwardly smiled.

August looked up to his father. "Louis, so, you're my father?"

Louis smile was genuine now. "Yeah, I am."

0o0o0o0o

It made sense now. Why he hadn't brought himself to saying "goodbye" to the boy. He felt that if he did, he'd never see him ever again although he knew the chances of that were as slim as finding Lyla. Then, when he saw her name, he ran as fast as he could to the park and the concert, and when he arrived, believed that she would be playing with the orchestra.

When he had seen her, his breath caught in his throat and he lost all words and his voice. For a second, time froze for him and all he could do was gaze at her. She hadn't changed a bit. Her green eyes were still shining, but instead of looking lost she looked enlightened. She held herself with all the grace and beauty of an angel and looked like one with the white dress whose train was being stained by the dress. Then, time continued when she moved forward and he wove through the crowd to reach her.

It was a silent reunion. He still believed she was married and didn't say anything, not wanting to ruin the moment. There would be time later in which he would have to bury his heart. But instead, he found himself entranced by the music and looked up to see August, the boy he had met earlier, conducting the orchestra, just as he had told him earlier that same day. He didn't know why, but he felt proud…

Then, afterwards, came the news that lit a fire in his heart. The boy, August Rush, was his son. He and Lyla had a son. He believed it the moment, she said it and when he looked to the boy it was then that he realized that it was the truth.

Presently, he was sitting in Mr. Jeffries office with Lyla, Jeffries was outside talking to August, but the door was closed and wasn't really thin enough to hear the conversation outside.

"So, I'm guessing you're going to take him with you and your new husband." Louis whispered dejectedly.

"Husband?" Lyla asked as she turned her gaze away from August and to him. "What are you talking about?"

"You're not married?!" He hoped that she would say she wasn't.

"No." she answered as she lay her hand on his arm, "I'm not. What gave you that idea?"

"It's just-" he started, but found he couldn't find the words. The whole time he had believed that she was married and that he had lost his chance forever. The whole time he was looking for her, the reason he had come to New York- "I've been looking for you. I went to Chicago and the landlady said that you've gotten married-"

"That was my roommate." Lyla said with a smile.

"But she said that the musician-"

Lyla knew now what had prompted her landlady to tell him. "I stopped playing after- after-" she looked back to August, "After I thought I lost the baby. I didn't know where to find you. I didn't know if you'd be angry or upset or happy to know that I was pregnant so I- kept it to myself. But then when I thought I-"

"You stopped listening." He whispered to her.

Those were the words that he had said to her that night they had met. He was listening and she had been too and that was how they met and how they were reunited.

"Yes." She replied as she leaned in close to him.

On instinct, he leaned in and was about to kiss her when the door opened and Jeffries came in with August following him.

"Alright, you see, there is a problem. Seeing that you two aren't legally married and that each of you have separate careers, Evan can only legally live with one guardian. Though I know both of you are his parents only one of you can have custody-" Mr. Jeffries started.

"That's not going to happen." Louis interrupted gaining shocked looks from the whole party, "I mean the whole separation. I'm not letting them go, Mr. Jeffries. Surely, you can understand that."

"I didn't imply that you wanted to, Mr. Connelly, but-" Mr. Jeffries started again when Louis once more cut in.

"I didn't mean that. What I meant, was that the marriage isn't going to be a problem-" he said as he turned to Lyla, "Not unless-"

Lyla then knew at that moment and her eyes widened in shock. "Louis, I- I don't know what to say."

"Say yes." Louis and August both pleaded at the same time with the same puppy-like voice.

Even Mr. Jeffries couldn't help but smile at that. Lyla giggled before she kissed Louis on the lips. "Yes, Louis. Yes."

August ran forward and hugged both of them, not minding if the arms of the chair dug into his stomach. He was home, his parents had listened and had found him, and they were together again.

"You do realize that this is going to take a long process." Mr. Jeffries said.

Lyla was the one to speak. "We don't care."

0o0o0o0o0o

It had been ten months and sixteen days since that day. Since, she had met and found her son in the park in the same concert she had performed in.

It had been four months and three days, since she had married Louis and became Lyla Connelly.

And it had been one month and four days since she and her family had moved into a two room, grand apartment with a studio in Manhattan.

Louis was still playing with the band, although he usually booked gigs in New York always discussing with her when he had a show outside the city.

August was in Julliard and composing another rhapsody in his composition class, becoming the music prodigy she was proud of.

She- she was still playing with the New York Philharmonic on the persuasion from both her son and her husband. The orchestra had welcomed her back with open arms and she was scheduled for a show tonight.

"Mom, are you ready?" August asked as he walked into the room.

She hadn't wanted to change his name. August sounded amazing but in the music world, although he was known as August Rush, to her he was August Novacek Connelly. She and Louis had gotten into a fight about his last name. Lyla wanted his name as August's surname but he thought it appropriate that because he hadn't known he had a son that August should have hers. No yelling or raised voices of course, but a lot of disagreement that it had dragged both Marshall and Liz into the argument. It was August in the end that had ended the little quarrel by saying that he'd take both names in honor of them because they had given him the gift to hear music.

"Uncle Marshall is waiting in the car already." August said as he came up to her and hugged her. She turned around to receive the hug and return it. There was not one day that had gone by when she didn't hug him.

"Where's your father?" she asked.

"He still can't get on his tie." August laughed.

Lyla gave an amused sigh as she got up, her beige dress straightening out as she stood. When she walked out, she saw Louis in a tangle with the tie that was around his neck.

"Are you trying to tie your hands to your neck, because you've done a pretty good job of it?" Lyla laughed as she and August walked up to him.

"Hey, I've never bothered to wear these things." Louis answered as Lyla first slipped his hands from the tie and then got it over his neck to untangle it. "Can't I wear jeans and-"

"No, even Marshall is wearing a suit." Lyla answered as August settled himself on the couch and watched his parents.

"Are you nervous, August?" Louis asked his son as Lyla started to tie the tie.

"A little." August answered as he leaned forward in his seat. "Dad, when you perform, do you feel nervous."

Louis met Lyla's gaze for a brief moment. "Yes, but that's when I'm not on stage. When I get on- then it just washes off of me when the music starts."

August looked at his father with a comprehending look as if trying to understand the simple message as a profound, enlightened piece of advice. When Lyla was done, Louis walked to his son and knelt in front of him.

"August, the music you write comes from inside you. With it, nothing can go wrong. You'll be fine." He said as he kissed August's forehead. "Now, c'mon, your uncle's downstairs and waiting. Go tell him we'll be there in a minute."

"Alright," August smiled as he got up and walked out.

Lyla approached her husband and wrapped her arms around him. "Louis, what're we gonna do with a musical prodigy?"

"Everything we can." Louis assured her as he wrapped his arms around her. "It's been so long and I can't believe that-"

"Me, too." She whispered as they headed for the exit. When they entered the hallway, they heard a familiar tune that had played in Washington Square the night they had met.

Louis whirled around and grabbed her instinctively holding her protectively. He glared at the man who stood at the end of hallway. He was about to charge at him when Lyla held him back with a tight grip on his arm.

"I'm not going to hurt anyone." The man assured them as he took a cautious step forward. "My name is Wizard."

Lyla felt the muscles in Louis's arms tense. She had heard of August mentioning a Wizard but Louis must have heard more about him.

"August has told me about you." He said.

"Good things?" Wizard asked.

"Among the bad." Louis answered him, "Did you talk to him?"

"No." Wizard answered, "He didn't even see me."

"Then why are you here?" Lyla asked warily.

"To tell you that your son had been looking for you since the day I've met you. That he wanted you to hear him. I made a bet that you wouldn't. But he did. I'm here to pay up." He said as he slid an envelope towards him. "It'll help him with whatever he needs."

Louis slid it back. "Take it back. Our boy found us. He told me that you take care of others- other kids. Take care of them with this money. August has us already."

Wizard nodded and picked up the envelope disappearing around the hall in a heartbeat. Lyla looked at Louis with shocked eyes.

"Who was that?" she asked him.

"A man August told me about." Louis answered simply, "Wizard was the one that took care of him the first few days when August was lost in Manhattan."

"We should have given him something." She whispered as she checked the door and was satisfied that it was locked.

"We did." Louis answered frankly, "His money back."

0o0o0o0o0o

Every time he looked at the boy he saw his brother and Lyla. Every time he heard August play, he heard two music and two worlds colliding into one. Marshall Connelly smiled when he saw his nephew descend the stairs of the building and run to the Mercedes.

"Uncle Marshall!" August shouted with a smile as he entered through the passenger door and gave him a hug.

"How 'ave you been, boy?" Marshall asked, "And where are your parents?"

"Dad got tied in his tie." August laughed as he closed his eyes. Marshall knew that the boy could listen to music in everything he hears. Even speech was its own instrument in August's mind.

"Your dad always had a trouble with the formal stuff." Marshall admitted as he saw Louis and Lyla exit the building. He saw the irritated look on Louis's face, when his gaze went beyond the car and to the street where Marshall saw a man in a cowboy hat and a brown leather jacket.

However, his thoughts were interrupted when the car door opened and Lyla and Louis got into the back seat.

"Alright, we're good." Louis confirmed as he closed the door.

"Next stop, August's concert." Lyla smiled as Marshall put the car into drive and headed off towards Carnegie Hall.

"Yours, too." Louis reminded her as he brushed his lips against hers.

Marshall groaned, "Ugh, there's a boy and this is my car. Get a room!"

August laughed, as did Lyla and Louis and Marshall chuckled. As he looked to the boy beside him and the happy couple in the back seat he saw that they were all a family and music had brought them all together.

-

_I thought I should explain the Wizard thing._

_Well, Wizard was always about the money. But in the deleted scenes, he actually catches up to August and tells him that he 'heard' once and that it would be August that would make him hear again, but when August can't hear because he wants to find his parents Wizard sends him away and disappears. Before this, he was betting his money against August that he would never find his parents, so it made sense that he would come back and honor his bet, but instead of talking to August, who he knew might refuse it since August never did anything for the money, he gave it to his parents (whom he managed to track down, which wouldn't be so hard since tracking down a music prodigy isn't)._

_-Phoenix_


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

-

The concert has just finished, the audience left very pleased and now, it was so quiet you could hear the cicadas chirping their song. August explored the greenery for a while since his parents are chatting with the dean at Julliard.

He heard a soft tune of a violin's chords. He followed it deep in the woods and saw a dark silhouette of a girl, about the same age as his, gracefully swaying and whisking her arms. When she hit the wrong note, she got agitated; she put down her antique instrument with force as if she was to hit it. August took a step forward and stepped on a dry branch, thus breaking it apart.

She turned around in panic; she stepped forward to the light. She was tall and had long rich black hair; it was a bit curly towards the end. The contours of her eyes were dark and she had no need of an eyeliner. Her eye color was dark brown. She had a pinkish glow on her cheeks, reddish lips, a well shaped face and a well proportioned body. She was wearing a black dress with a skirt that flows above her knees. It looked formal enough but it was still a bit casual.

"Hi." She says. "What are you doing here?"

"I don't know, I just followed something moving and then I saw you." August tried to say as innocently as he can. A smile was drawn on her face.

"Your concert was nice." She said. "I'm Rachel by the way."

"August, August Rush." He extends his hand. Rachel puts the bow to her left hand where she was also carrying her violin. She took August's hand and shook it. After letting go, Rachel starts walking to the direction August came from.

"I heard so much about you." She said. "My grandmother keeps talking about you."

"I know your grandmother?" August asks.

"Yes, the dean of Julliard, don't you?"

"Oh, I never knew she had... but it's a pleasure meeting you." He said.

"Actually I'm the only one." Rachel said.

"That was pretty nice you know." August said, referring to her playing.

"Thank you. It was a lullaby my mom used to hum to me." She said. "You know, you're pretty famous in Julliard."

"You study there too?" he asks.

"No! I don't. I just know my way because right after school, I wait for my grandmother there, watching, listening, and talking. It's like I'm a student but I'm not."

"Oh." August said.

"August!" Lyla calls to her son.

He approaches them with Rachel right behind her. "Mom, dad, I met a new friend. Her name's Rachel." August introduced.

"Rachel! We've meet before, right?" Lyla asks. "We met at Julliard."

"Indeed." Rachel said politely.

"I'm Louis." August's dad introduces.

"It's a pleasure to meet you." Rachel said. "Oh, I think I have to go. Good bye. Bye August."

"Bye. Hey, maybe we'd see each other in school."

"Maybe. It's a big school." Rachel teases and August marvels at her as she runs gracefully to her grandmother.

-


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

-

Classes have now ended and August just received a call from his parents that they will be home late and so, he decided to stay for a while in school. He had been vigilant the whole day, trying to see if he finds Rachel. He started walking to the picnic area. He sits down on one of the picnic benches that are accompanied by a picnic table where he puts down his music sheets. He started cleaning up the new lullaby he was working on.

He just had an inspiration from the encounter last night. He looks up from his work and that was when he saw Rachel. She was lying on her front at a blanket. The contents of her medium sized white backpack with light green leaves and flowers printed on it were scattered at her sides and the supplies in her pencil case were spilling. The sheets of paper messily spread kept bothering her because of the wind. She angrily shoved them back to where they were prior to the strong breeze.

August packed up his things haphazardly and ran to Rachel. He sat beside her at the grass. "Hey." He said.

"Hi." Rachel looked at him. "You seem to have found me even though it's a big school."

Rachel went back to what she was writing in a notebook and August brought out the music sheet and starts working in vain again, but the result is just awful. His childlike face starts to crumple into a frown, his lap as a table could never work. "Hey." Rachel calls. He looks at her. "Would you like us to sit on a bench?" she asks as if she interpreted his struggles on writing on his lap instead of a table.

"Sure if that's okay with you." He said standing up and brushing off the dirt on his pants.

Rachel makes a large bag with the sheet and carries all her stuff to the nearest table. Once there, she lay down the sheet on the table using it as a table cloth with all her stuff.

August sits across her. He went back to cleaning up the draft while Rachel tidied up her things. When she was finished doing so, she rested her chin on her hands and stared at August's face that was really dedicated to the current act he was working on.

A smile crept on Rachel's face, realizing this, August looks at her. "What are you doing?" Rachel asks, still not moving from her current position.

"I was just composing a tune for a lullaby. The other night, the cicadas inspired me to make it." He said.

"That's funny; the cicadas inspired me to make a poem about a bird that was left alone by his parents before even being taught how to fly. Every night he'd try but he was too afraid that if he did, he might fall and never be able to come back to the branch he was once perched on. He met a cicada who told him to try to fly and he did." Rachel said.

"Then what happened?"

"He fell. During the cold night, he became angry at the cicada because he left him alone in the dark but when he heard the cicada calling to him, he pushed himself back to where he was. He tried again and again until he finally found that the wind was carrying him towards the cicada. When they were reunited, the bird realized that the cicada was always there, waiting for him because the cicada knew that the bird could do it and that was when the bird started flying higher. He kept flying higher but every night, he would always come back to listen to the cicada's song."

"Wow." August gasped and Rachel smiled at him.

"My dream is to be a travel journalist and be able to see different wonders all over the world, like the bird. My dream is to join the journalist training." Rachel said dreamily.

"What went wrong?"

"Nothing, I'm just busy being musical." Rachel said sarcastically and rolled her eyes.

"What's so bad about being musical?"

"Nothing, it's just that it's too busy. My dad's being pretty paranoid that I might not be musical."

"Your dad?"

"Yes, I live with my grandmother and my dad. My mom was a violinist, she was really famous, like your mom but she died because I lived and my dad wants me to become like her. That's why I'm busy being musical."

"Well, I think that's a good thing. Being musical is good, you invested on a good place." He said. Rachel's phone vibrates on the table. She picks up the gadget and reads the message. When she does, she immediately packs up.

"August, I am so sorry but I have to go."

"Oh, well, I hope I can read the poem you were working on when you've finished it." He said and smiled.

"Sure, I just hope I could hear the lullaby you were working on too." Rachel said smiling. She paused and looked at August as she did this. After a while, she went back to tidying up.

"Yeah, maybe you could write the lyrics, you seem really amazing with words."

"Really? Thank you!" She said as she swings her bag to her right shoulder and holds her phone on her right hand. She starts walking but then she turned around and shouts to August, "Well, again, thank you and goodbye. I had fun."

"I did too, see you soon!" August waves at her as she struggles to run as fast as she can but still maintaining her composure. August also did walk home, after Rachel did.

-


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